Some statistics indicate that approximately one million children who have an Iranian mother and non-Iranian father and were born in Iran, have been abandoned without birth certificates and other identity documents. As a result, they are deprived of many basic rights, including the right to education.

Investors in Iran are currently not in the process of changing the law of granting citizenship, which according to Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the best interests and welfare of the child must be taken into consideration in all decision-making, especially national decisions.

We have had a conversation about this with Dr. Naemat Ahmadi, a first-degree lawyer and a professor of law at the university.

Nemat Ahmadi, emphasizing that “this issue is a major national problem”, believes that in order to solve such problems, the leaders of the system must come together and determine its fate.

This renowned lawyer and attorney at law speaks about peace: “These individuals are helpless and forced, driven out of their fatherland and left behind in their motherland. Most importantly, in regards to the majority of these individuals, there is no longer a father figure present and [he has gone to Afghanistan]. If you were to take a census, more than two-thirds of these individuals are without a guardian; meaning they do not have a father.”

As you are aware, there has recently been opposition to the general plan of granting Iranian citizenship to children born to Iranian women and non-Iranian men. What is your opinion on this matter?

Citizenship in our civil law is derived from Western law. In our jurisprudence and in Islamic law, we do not have a concept of citizenship; we are Muslims and all of our commonalities come from our religion. The root of citizenship in the world is in two forms: one is blood citizenship and the other is soil citizenship. The citizenship that we Iranians have is blood citizenship; meaning that every Iranian, no matter where they are in the world, is Iranian. Afghanistan also follows this same form of citizenship. Unfortunately, due to this type of citizenship and on the other hand, derived from the Shariah which does not attribute religion to the mother, there was opposition to this plan.

In the past, when these laws related to citizenship were put in place, traveling was truly a journey and had its own preparations and endings. But nowadays, travel no longer has the same meaning because the world has changed. You can now go to the airport, board a plane, and in an hour pass through the borders of Iran. You can also easily find work or get married in another country. Naturally, citizens of other countries also have these conditions; whether it is countries with much lower economic status than ours (such as Iraq and Afghanistan) or other countries. Those who come and are born in our country, their Iranian mothers have been subjected to injustice as 70-80% of them have never even seen outside of Iran’s borders.

“We should, for the sake of expediency, send any laws that do not receive approval in the parliament to the Council of Expediency to be turned into laws. These individuals are irresponsible and, in terms of the interests of the system and Iranian society, for the preservation of the nation and the sanctity of the family, in my belief, we should one day come to the conclusion that there are no longer thousands of irresponsible individuals in the country.”

Why couldn’t the plan that was approved in 85 regarding the determination of the fate of these individuals be effective?

That plan did not have the necessary inclusivity; the story should be that children born to Iranian mothers in our country have the option to determine their own citizenship after the age of 18 or even before. We must have a systematic plan in this regard and the law must be clear; unfortunately, the plan proposed and approved in 85 was not like this.

Some officials mention the security or economic consequences of this plan; for example, that the government cannot bear the financial burden of paying subsidies for these individuals… In your opinion, to what extent can such reasons be justified?

It is not right to bring up economic issues and reduce them to a 45,000-toman subsidy. Look, these people are already using most of the country’s services. When they go to the hospital, they use the subsidized medicine provided by the government. Doesn’t the government also provide subsidies for electricity, gas, water, etc.? Like you and me, they ride the metro and bus and use the subsidies provided by the government for public needs. Wheat or fuel, for example, their real price is not this… They are in this same country, living here, and they only have an ID card; meaning, we came and became an obstacle.

“These criticisms and objections raised in the parliament were laughable, by God! They were saying that if we give a false identity to the people who come to our country, it will lead to our daughters going and marrying these strangers! Is marriage something that you and I should decide for them?! This is a bitter reality that exists and this bitter reality will become a crime tomorrow. When you prevent someone who was born in this country and even their mother is Iranian, from education, progress and identity, they will become a lost soul, they will become abnormal; so we must determine their fate.”

I am fundamentally opposed to such justifications. In regards to the citizenship of these individuals, we should treat them in a way that actually provides them with the opportunity to continue their lives and livelihoods. The size of their population, whether large or small, is not important; what is important is that they are Iranian. They were born here and grew up here. Nowadays, the world is moving towards accepting Afghan and Syrian refugees in other countries; are we not willing to accept half of them who are also Iranian?! This is not a divine, national, or humane action. No matter how you look at it, we are truly oppressing these individuals. Someone who is at least fifty percent Iranian (if we consider this aspect as well) should be able to go to school, have a bank account, and be able to choose a suitable job. But we are only raising an illiterate population.

Look at our religious teachings; we are Shia and our entire religious identity and sanctity is being the children of Hazrat Zahra and recognizing her as the mother of all. How can we then only attribute religion to men?! This becomes a contradiction.

This is a major national problem and we should not only rely on normal legislative measures to solve such problems. In my belief, the leaders of the system should sit down and look at this issue as a major national problem that remains unresolved, and determine the fate of a large population of children and young people who have no other solution.

Dear Dr. Ahmadi, have you ever worked closely with such individuals before?

Yes; I know a large number of these individuals. Usually, these marriages are such that an Afghan man marries an unfortunate Iranian girl in a remote village and 3-4 years later, the husband returns to Afghanistan. The result of these marriages is also many girls and boys who cannot go to school and even with reaching a young age, they cannot get married.

These individuals are helpless and forced, driven out of their fatherland and left behind in their motherland. More importantly, for the majority of these individuals, there is no longer a father figure present and [he has gone to Afghanistan]. If you were to take a census, more than two-thirds of these individuals are without a guardian; meaning they have no father.

For example, I know someone in the city of Saveh who has an Iranian mother and an Afghan father and works with heavy machinery; this person has never left Saveh and Tehran, never gone beyond that. However, they do not have an ID card! This is an injustice, an injustice caused by legal constraints and narrow-mindedness…

According to the laws of our country, maternal citizenship is not recognized. If this law is ultimately passed and enforced, how effective can it be in breaking the taboo of maternal citizenship in Iran?

See, in most countries of the world, citizenship is passed down from father to child. In fact, when it comes to blood citizenship, it works like this; unless it’s a matter of soil citizenship. For example, the United States follows a system of soil citizenship. President Obama’s father is Kenyan, but because he was born on American soil, he has reached the position of presidency. In terms of blood citizenship and according to Iranian laws, if my child is born in America, they will be considered Iranian. This is the transfer of citizenship through the father, and the mother has no role in it.

There are many Iranian women who have married outside of the country and in developed countries, but now when their children want to come to Iran, they face difficulties. For example, we have many girls who have married American men in America. Their children, because their father is American, are considered citizens of that country. The child wants to come and see their motherland, but it is not practically possible.

I am saying that this situation is not at all acceptable and there is no discussion about maternal citizenship… In short, I believe that children born from Iranian women’s marriages to non-Iranian men and living in Iran should have their identity and ability to live and move around in their own country like any other Iranian, determined.

Thank you for giving us your time.